Prime minister pledges justice, security for journalists in Pakistan

Islamabad,
March 19, 2014 -- In a wide-ranging meeting today with a delegation from the
Committee to Protect Journalists, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif pledged to
continue to expand Pakistan's media freedoms and address the insecurity
plaguing the country's journalists. He also promised to ease visa and travel
restrictions on foreign journalists working in the county.

"The important commitments made by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
to address many of the problems facing journalists and their need for
security and other issues indicate that he and his government recognize
the importance of a free media in Pakistan," said CPJ board member
Kati Marton. "His commitment is encouraging and unprecedented in
Pakistan's history."

Sharif's pledge to streamline the investigation and prosecution of
attacks on journalists is significant because the record of unsolved
crimes has made Pakistan one of the world's most deadly countries for the
media. The CPJ delegation presented the prime minister with case
histories of 25 journalists killed in the last decade, all but one
unprosecuted. In
early March, six people were convicted in the 2011 murder of
journalist Wali
Khan Babar.

In a 45-minute meeting with CPJ, also attended by Information
Minister Pervaiz Rasheed and Tariq Fatemi, special assistant to the prime
minister on foreign affairs, Sharif made a series of commitments:

Establish a joint
government-journalist commission to address continued attacks on
journalists and the impunity with which they occur.

Expedite the
prosecution of the killers of journalists by changing trial venues and
expanding witness protection programs.

Include the protection
of journalists as a negotiating point in upcoming peace talks with the
Taliban.

Speak out in support
of media freedom and in support of journalists under attack, particularly
in high-conflict areas like Baluchistan and the Federally Administered
Tribal Areas.

Expedite visas for
foreign journalists working in the country.

Review immediately
the case of New York Times Bureau Chief Declan Walsh, who was
expelled from Pakistan in May 2013.

Following the meeting
with CPJ, the government also announced the creation of special
prosecutors in all four provinces and federally to oversee cases
involving crimes against journalists.

In addition to Marton, the CPJ delegation included board member
Ahmed Rashid, CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon, and CPJ Asia Program
Coordinator Robert Dietz.

In 2013, CPJ released a special
report examining the targeted killings of Babar
in Karachi, tribal area journalist Mukarram
Khan Aatif, and defense and political
reporter Saleem
Shahzad, along with the underlying culture that has led to so many
other killings. In meeting with the CPJ delegation, Prime Minister Sharif
pledged to reinvigorate the stalled investigation in the Shahzad killing.

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CPJ is an independent, nonprofit organization that works to safeguard
press freedom worldwide.

Note to editors:

CORRECTION: CPJ presented to the prime minister a selection of 25 case histories out of the total 47 journalists killed for their work in Pakistan in the past decade. The initial version of this press release misstated that the total number of the journalists killed in the decade was 25.

CPJ board member Kati
Marton and other members of the CPJ delegation are available for
interviews in Islamabad until Saturday, March 22, 2014.